In Brief: More News from the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies

New Faculty: The department conducted two searches this year for tenure-track assistant professors. The first, for a logician, led to the hiring of Shawn Standefer, who earned his Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh and is currently Assistant Professor of Philosophy at National Taiwan University. Standefer, who has already established himself as a leading figure on the subject of relevant logic, also works on modal logic, proof theory, truth and paradox, and inferentialism. The other search, for a historian of philosophy, led to the hiring of Roy C. Lee, who earned his Ph.D. at Stanford and is currently Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Creighton University. Lee works primarily on ancient Greek ethics and especially on Aristotle’s Eudemian Ethics, with a view to understanding what Aristotle’s core arguments can tell us about ethical inquiry, ethical naturalism, virtue, and happiness.

Promotions: Kathleen Foody, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, was promoted to Associate Professor. She earned her Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was previously Associate Professor of International Studies at the College of Charleston, before joining NC State in 2020. Her research focuses on the study of modern Islam, both as practiced by Muslims and as conceived by non-Muslims.

Stephen C. Ferguson and Karey Harwood were both promoted to Professor. Ferguson earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Kansas in 2004 and joined NC State in 2017 after teaching for many years NC A&T State University. His work focuses on social and political philosophy, Africana philosophy, philosophy of sport, and philosophy of African American studies. Harwood, who holds a joint appointment in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGS), has taught at NC State since 2003. Her research focuses primarily on issues related to biomedical ethics and reproductive technologies.

Retirements: After serving for over 20 years at NC State, Catherine Driscoll, Professor of Philosophy, retired on January 1, 2025. A native of England, Driscoll earned a B.A. in Philosophy and Theology at Oriel College, Oxford, and a Ph.D. in philosophy at Rutgers University. After completing the Ph.D., she taught for a year at Dartmouth College before joining NC State as an Assistant Professor in the fall of 2003. She was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2010 and to Professor in 2019. Starting in Fall 2025, William Adler will go on phased retirement. He just completed his 41st year of teaching at NC State!

Major Anniversaries: Six members of the department’s faculty celebrated significant long-term service anniversaries in 2025:

• Kathy Foody, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, 5 years
• William Bauer, Associate Teaching Professor of Philosophy, 15 years
• Eric Carter, Assistant Teaching Professor of Philosophy, 15 years
• Robert Mabrito, Associate Professor of Philosophy, 20 years
• Jason Bivins, Professor of Religious Studies, 25 years
• Marina Bykova, Professor of Philosophy, 25 years

Scholarly Reassignment: Ronald Endicott, Associate Professor of Philosophy, was granted a one-semester scholarly reassignment for Fall 2024. His focus was the topic of inner speech, or the voice we seem to perceive when we speak only in our minds. Endicott is developing a novel theory of this kind of speech that he calls the Body Error Theory, which sees inner speech as a kind of illusion in which sounds mix with activities in the speech musculature to create the appearance of speech sounds. He has already published an article on this topic–“Inner Speech and the Body Error Theory,” Frontiers of Psychology–and is further developing the view in a series of articles and a book manuscript.

Faculty Honors and Accomplishments:

• William Bauer, Associate Teaching Professor, served as a Provost’s Faculty Fellow during the 2024-25 school year, on the University Leadership Track.
• William (Bill) Adler, Distinguished University Professor of Religious Studies, has been appointed as a Distinguished Fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for the 2024-2026 academic years.
• Jason C. Bivins, Professor of Religious Studies, has been awarded the 2024-25 Outstanding Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Award by the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. He has also been awarded a prestigious Obama Fellowship by the Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.
• Stephen C. Ferguson, Associate Professor of Philosophy and of Africana Studies, has been awarded a prestigious ACLS Fellowship by the American Council of Learned Societies. The fellowship will allow Ferguson to complete a book manuscript tentatively titled On the Black Side of Philosophy: Black Philosophers Confront Black Power and Communism.
• Seth Gaiters, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and of Africana Studies, was named a Public Fellow by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) for 2024-25, as a part of their Religion and Renewing Democracy Initiative. Gaiters is also participating in the National Humanities Center Summer Residency Program in summer 2025.
• Levi McLaughlin, Professor of Religious Studies, served as a CHASS Faculty Fellow on the subject of “Humans, Futures, Sustainabilities” in Spring 2025.

Staff Change: Kendall Hubbard, the department’s student services associate, left NC State for a job at UNC-Chapel Hill in December 2024. She was succeeded by Mia Henry, who served in the role on a temporary basis for four months before being hired on in a more permanent capacity. Mia’s work ethic, promotional talents, and social media savvy have already made a big impact in the department.

2024-25 Graduates: Twenty-six students graduated in either philosophy or religious studies during the 2024-25 academic year. Eleven of these students graduated summa cum laude, one graduated magna cum laude, and four graduated cum laude. Fifteen completed second majors outside our disciplines, including majors in Communication, Political Science, Psychology, History, Social Work, Civil Engineering, Physics, and Plant Biology. Eighteen completed one or more minors, including minors in Journalism, History, Anthropology, Japan Studies, Political Science, Criminology, Classical Studies, Logic and Methodology, Music Studies, Environmental Science, Mathematics, Teaching English, Biological Sciences, Statistics, and Computer Programming.